Saeukkang facts for kids
| Alternative names | Shrimp Cracker, Prawn Cracker | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Type | Snack | ||||||
| Place of origin | South Korea | ||||||
| Created by | Nongshim | ||||||
| Invented | 1971 | ||||||
| Main ingredients | Rice, shrimp, sour mayonnaise wasabi | ||||||
| 435 kcal (1821 kJ) | |||||||
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| Other information | official website: http://eng.nongshim.com/brand/saewookkang/main/index |
Saeukkang (Hangul: 새우깡) is a super popular shrimp-flavored snack from South Korea! It's also known as a Shrimp Cracker. The company Nongshim has been making these tasty treats since 1971. Each bag usually holds about 90 grams of these crispy crackers, which is like 4 or 5 sheets of deliciousness.
Contents
The Story of Saeukkang
How Saeukkang Got Its Name
The word 'Saeu' means shrimp in Korean. When Nongshim President Shin Choon-ho was trying to find a good name for the new shrimp snack, his daughter gave him an idea! She mispronounced a famous Korean folk song called Arirang (Hangul: 아라랑), saying 'Arikkang' (Hangul: 아리깡) instead. This sparked the idea for the name Saeukkang!
How Saeukkang Was Developed
The Nongshim company got some ideas from a popular Japanese snack called Kappa Ebisen, made by Calbee. Nongshim spent more than a year trying to figure out how to make a similar snack. It was especially tricky to find the perfect temperature to cook the crackers. During this time, the company used a lot of flour and shrimp. They used about 360 tons of flour just to get it right!
Saeukkang's Amazing Sales
When Saeukkang was first released, it was a huge hit! Nongshim used the slogan We make our foods using our technology. Before Saeukkang, Nongshim wasn't a very big company. But this snack helped them grow into one of the largest food and drink companies in South Korea.
Many trucks from all over South Korea traveled to Nongshim's factory to buy Saeukkang. Just three months after it first came out, Nongshim's sales went up by an amazing 350%! With this extra money, Nongshim was able to create other successful snacks. These included Banana Kick in 1978, Honey Twist Snack in 1979, and Potato Chip in 1980.
By 2013, over 7.5 billion packages of Saeukkang had been sold! Today, you can find Saeukkang in 76 countries around the world. It's sold in stores like Walmart in the United States and Taobao in China.
Different Kinds of Saeukkang
Nongshim makes several different versions of Saeukkang. Besides the regular 90-gram bag, they also have other sizes:
- Mini Saeukkang (30g)
- Deluxe Saeukkang (400g)
Nongshim also offers Saeukkang in different yummy flavors:
- Spicy Saeukkang
- Rice Saeukkang
- Sweet & Sour Chicken Saeukkang
How Saeukkang is Advertised
TV Commercials
Lee Jong-suk, a famous Korean actor and model, has advertised Saeukkang. You can see one of his commercials here: [1].
Since the snack first came out, it has been advertised with a very famous slogan. The slogan is "손이 가요~ 손이 가~새우깡에 손이 가요!" This roughly means "Grab some here, grab some there. Grab Saeukkang anywhere!" This slogan has been so successful that it's still used in Saeukkang ads even today.
Saeukkang Fan Clubs
Saeukkang is so popular that there are about 100 fan clubs for it! These clubs are on Korea's biggest website, Naver. People of all ages, both younger and older, are part of these fan clubs.
See also
- Nongshim
- Snack
- Prawn Cracker
- Kappa Ebisen
